Dr KARL SHUKER

Zoologist, media consultant, and science writer, Dr Karl Shuker is also one of the best known cryptozoologists in the world. Author of such seminal works as Mystery Cats of the World (1989), The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century (1993; greatly expanded in 2012 as The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals), In Search of Prehistoric Survivors (1995), The Unexplained (1996), Mysteries of Planet Earth (1999), The Beasts That Hide From Man (2003), and more recently Extraordinary Animals Revisited (2007), Dr Shuker's Casebook (2008), Karl Shuker's Alien Zoo: From the Pages of Fortean Times (2010), Cats of Magic, Mythology, and Mystery (2012), Mirabilis: A Carnival of Cryptozoology and Unnatural History (2013), Dragons in Zoology, Cryptozoology, and Culture (2013), A Manifestation of Monsters (2015), Here's Nessie! (2016), and what is already considered to be his magnum opus, Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors (2016), his many fans have been badgering him to join the blogosphere for years. The CFZ Blog Network is proud to have finally persuaded him to do so.

Saturday, 11 January 2014

EXPOSING ONLINE FAKES AND FRAUDS OF THE CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL KIND – A SHUKERNATURE TOP TEN LISTING

The internet is the natural home of some very unnatural
creatures – fakes, frauds, and the falsely identified. Many of them attract
only fleeting, transient attention before being soundly exposed and permanently
discredited. However, there is also a hardcore set whose members simply refuse
to die – being revived time and time again by unsuspecting novice researchers
who are bewitched by their superficial strangeness and fail to realise that
their faux nature has been unveiled on numerous previous occasions. So here, in
no particular order, are ten of the most noteworthy (and notorious) examples,
all of which I have investigated at one time or another and have either
personally exposed the truth behind them or have discovered who else has done
so.

And where better to begin than with this extremely
striking photograph? As can be seen, it portrays someone holding what appears on
first sight to be a recently-dead eurypterid or sea scorpion, which, if
genuine, would be an astonishing discovery, bearing in mind that the most
recent confirmed specimens died out during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction
approximately 252 million years ago. I have seen the following report
accompanying this photo on several Facebook group and individual pages, but its
earliest online appearance seems to be on the Paranormal Geeks Radio website on
13
April 2013. Here's the
report:

"In 1971 farmer Ted Litton
caught this weird animal alive in his artificial pond in Lilac, TX, & got
his pic in the paper. 8 hours later his farm was besieged by Army soldiers
wearing decontamination suits. They drained the pond, leaving an odd, spheroid
cavity in the bottom. Litton says the Army dismissed his beast as a freak of
nature yet they confiscated it, promising him 5 grand (which never
materialized).”

Needless
to say, however, as I discovered when subjecting this photograph to a Google
Image search, the reality soon proved to be very different. In fact, the
eurypterid was a prop, an animatronic model, to be precise, produced for the BBC
television seriesSea Monsters (2003) by the award-winning
special-effects design company Crawley Creatures, based in the UK. Here is a link to their website that shows this
exact-same photograph:

Since
the beginning of October 2013, the above photograph has been circulating widely
online, appearing not only in a number of Facebook groups but also on a wide
variety of websites, many of which claim that the black panther (i.e. melanistic
leopard) that it depicts was recently photographed in the wild somewhere in
North America. It is precisely where that has incited controversy, with a
number of different States variously cited, including Oklahoma, Louisiana,
Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas. Once again, however, after subjecting the photo
to a Google Image search I swiftly uncovered its true provenance, which proved
to be South
Africa.
Indeed, as I discovered from the following online article, dated 20 March 2013, which contains and originated this photo:

the
animal in question is a black panther named Coal, one of two (both born in
2003) present in captivity and in the care of conservationist Kevin Richardson
at the Dinokeng Nature Reserve in Gauteng, South Africa. Clearly,
therefore, person(s) unknown had subsequently utilised the photo in fake
reports claiming that it had been snapped in North America. (Also worth noting, incidentally, is that the grass in this photo is an African species, not a North American one.)

This
extraordinary photograph has been the subject of much online speculation since
as far back as 2005, and has even featured in various YouTube videos. Lurid
claims that its subjects were bona fide human-canine hybrids are widespread,
and also that it is a skilfully-produced Photoshop creation. In reality,
neither of these is correct, because what it really is…is a very remarkable
sculpture, as revealed in the following link:

As
explained there, the sculpture is entitled 'The Young Family', and was created
by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini in 2002. It was manufactured from silicone,
polyurethane, leather, plywood, and human hair, measures 80 x 150 x 110 cm, and
is part of a larger work entitled 'We Are Family'.

but
it has been circulating online in similar accounts for quite a while prior to
that (I have found web reports of it dating back as far as August 2012). The
article claims that this mega-tortoise, measuring 30 ft long and weighing well over 2380 lb, had been discovered in a Brazilian stretch of the Amazon River after killing local farmers' livestock, and was around 529 years old. As anyone familiar with Japanese
'monster' films would soon confirm, however, the photo is merely a still from
the popular movie Gamera the Brave, produced in Japan by Kadowara Pictures in 2006 – as verified by the
following French website page:

Four
separate photographs of alleged black lions have been circulating online for
more than 2 years, and as I have documented in my books Mystery Cats of the World (1989) and Cats of Magic, Mythology, and Mystery (2012),
several unconfirmed sightings of such animals have been reported from various
regions of Africa, but no verified specimen has ever been documented. So what
were the animals in the online photos? As I revealed in two exclusive
ShukerNature investigations:

three
of these four black lion photographs were photoshopped versions of original
images depicting normal, tawny-coloured lions. And the fourth black lion photo
was a photoshopped version of an original image of a rare white lion – I successfully
tracked down all four of the original images online.

#6 – MULTI-HEADED COBRAS

(original source/copyright holder unknown to me)

Another
popular, perennial subject represented online by a wide variety of fake images
is the multi-hooded (and –headed) cobra. Claimed in some reports to constitute
living nagas or Indian snake deities, they were, as I soon revealed in another
ShukerNature investigation:

This
very spectacular photo has incited much discussion online in recent years –
which is very strange, bearing in mind that even the most cursory Google Image
search will rapidly reveal that the 32-ft-long sea serpent depicted in it is in
reality a very adept creation of master monster-maker Dr Takeshi Yamada. Indeed, as
I revealed in the following ShukerNature article:

it
is just one of many fascinating examples of so-called rogue taxidermy produced
over the years by Yamada. Others include a chupacabra snail, a vampire monkey, a
Mongolian death worm, a whip-tailed tree octopus, and an eight-legged spider
dog!

In
stark contrast to Yamada's example, this eyecatching sea serpent photograph has
greatly perplexed many people (and continues to do so), judging from the contradictory
claims and comments concerning it that have appeared in online discussions and
even in YouTube videos. Its portrayed location has been variously stated to be
a beach in Hawaii, South Australia, and the Philippines. Moreover, no-one has been able to identify the
creature that the photo depicts, but some bizarre suggestions have been
offered, including an oarfish – which looks nothing like it! Happily, however, this
photo poses no such problems for me – because, as now exclusively revealed here
on ShukerNature, I just so happen to know who created it! None other than a
good friend of mine, expert monster/dinosaur model-maker Alan E. Friswell, as he revealed
to me in October 2013:

"I drew this sea serpent in
photoshop in 2009, to accompany an article that I wrote for the CFZ [Centre for
Fortean Zoology] blog page."

Evidently,
therefore, it had subsequently been lifted by person(s) unknown and passed off
by them as a real, unidentified creature. This is exactly how so many online cryptozoological
hoaxes arise. Someone like Alan innocently creates a fictitious beast as
artwork, but then other persons deliberately pass it off as a genuine animal. Indeed,
this is precisely what happened with some of the black lion photos too, and also with the next case in our listing.

This
dramatic photograph must have sent shivers down the spine of many an
arachnophobic viewer since it first appeared online more than 2 years ago. It
often appeared with an account describing it as an Angolan witch spider. Here's
one version of that account:

"It's a new spider called the Angolan witch spider. They migrated
from South America [very odd, since Angola is in Africa!]. They primarily eat dogs and cats. In Texas this abnormally
large spider was found on the side of this home. It took several gun shots to
kill it."

When
I first saw the photo a year or so ago, I readily identified its subject as a wolf
spider, albeit one of wholly implausible size. And sure enough, a little online
detective work on my part soon traced the truth behind the terror, as fully documented
in the following website account:

It
reveals that the photograph was produced via Photoshop as a joke by artist-musician
Paul Santa Maria, who uploaded it onto his Facebook page, where it remained for
just a few hours before he took it down again. But that was still sufficient time
for it to be copied by someone onto their own page, from where it soon went
viral. The bogus account of it being an Angolan witch spider was attached to it
by person(s) unknown – and the rest, as they say, is history.

#10 – THE RAINBOW OWL IS A HOOT!

(copyright holder
unknown to me)

A year ago, several correspondents alerted
me to the above photograph and an accompanying report, circulating on Facebook
and elsewhere online, concerning what was claimed to be a rare but remarkable
species of owl. It is known as the rainbow owl on account of its gaudy,
multicoloured plumage, and according to the report it is native to the USA and China (an oddly
discontinuous zoogeographical distribution, to say the least!) but was hunted
into near-extinction during the early 20th Century due to coveters
of its beautiful feathers. Moreover, it has an unusually melodious call, and is
so attracted to music and human singing that researchers seeking it in the
field know that they will greatly increase their chances of finding specimens
if they bring along a portable stereo. The author of this intriguing report was
one Dr Claudia Weatherfield of the University of Toldeo.

Needless to say, as someone with a
longstanding ornithological interest yet who had no prior knowledge whatsoever
of any such species, I was instantly suspicious. And rightly so, as it turned
out, because some online investigations soon led me to the following webpages contained
on two websites devoted to exposing hoaxes, and which fully justified my
concern:

They revealed that there is no University of Toldeo; nor any
Claudia Weatherfield working even at the similarly-named University of Toledo. The photograph
was clearly a computer-modified version of some other image, and sure enough
the original photo proved to be of a barred owl Strix varia - a common
North American species unadorned by any rainbow-hued plumage.

Who knows – perhaps now, finally, all of these tenacious
phoneys will be laid to rest forever…but with their exceptional history and
capacity for resurrection, I wouldn't bet on it!

13 comments:

Regarding No. 8: While I asked Alan Friswell, and got no answer until today, WHICH ARTICLE for the CFZ it was I found out which photo was used. The picture is labelled “Fishermen with their nets” and was published from the "Lisbon Connection"-Blog in the article “Meco beach (Praia do Meco) 40 km south of Lisbon: ‘mecca’ for nudists, couples, surfers, a popular gay beach & how to reach from Lisbon” (http://www.thelisbonconnection.com/meco-beach-praia-do-meco-south-of-lisbon-mecca-for-nudists-surfers/)

Concerning No. 4: The road sign stands on the left hand side of the road, indicating traffic circulating on that side. Which speaks against Brasil and for Japan. ANd the police car looks quite like the ones we have met in Japanese films of newsreel...

Regarding #1:Does anyone recall two reports of alleged creatures described as resembling giant lobsters? One was in the vicinity of Nova Scotia or Newfoundland and probably 19th century. The other was perhaps 17th century and in the Indian Ocean. I think both claimed the creature attacked people on ship.

Let's not forget the "Thai water elephants", (also known as water weevils), the corpses of allegedly venomous, tiny, fist-sized elephants commanding big prices in Thailand and Burma, especially among the ethnic Chinese communities.They appear to be mummified elephant shrew bodies, possibly with the toes trimmed off, and enhanced with miniature tusks carved from bone. More here: http://pygmyelephants.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/elephantulus-gaffes.html

Yes indeed, Matt, I wrote about these ages ago in an Alien Zoo column for FT. I'd seen one for sale on ebay and was quite fascinated, as this was a new gaff to me then. I've seen a fair few since then, though.

Haha, imagine my surprise as I'm reading through your blog and I come across the Black Panther part and I still remember how everyone was in an uproar in the Mpumalanga area. As I am from Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, sightings of big cats in rural/urban areas are quite common, but more so with lions, and occasionally leopards (though not of the rare black kind).

Hi there, thank you for this post. Do you think this may be true or is it a horax? http://youtu.be/gwGZEkW5n14?t=2m31the last secment it's quite disturbing as it looks really realistic; it look as if this 'creature' is in pain and distress.

These individuals in the video appear to be exhibiting various developmental abnormalities, including cyclopia and, in the last example, possibly anencephaly. They are all known teratological conditions, not human-manipulated ones.

I have lived in Arkansas my whole life, and I can assure you that we do, in fact, have Panthers. You can hear them scream at night from my porch. We've had many hunters capture them as well as Bobcats on their wildlife cameras.

The panther that you are referring to is the puma, cougar, mountain lion (all names for the same American species, Puma concolor). However, the panther that I am referring to is the black panther, a melanistic variety of the leopard Panthera pardus, a totally different species that is not native to anywhere in North (or South) America.

Some pumas (aka panthers in North America) retain their cub spots to a subtle degree into adulthood. You mention also that you hear them scream at night, which is a puma characteristic, not a leopard (black panther) characteristic.

SHUKERNATURE SURVIVAL

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